All's Fair
by Maria Sophania
Summary: The past is a haunting thing. Its very memory can transform a person into a completely different being. This is a look into the past of the sons of Inu-no-Taisho and a future with the people who links them all together. All's fair in love and war.


Summary:

How exactly did Sesshomaru wind up the power hungry youkai we know? How did InuYasha survive after Lady Izayoi died? Could the two situations be linked by a mysterious and powerful Inu-youkai? This story follows the Inu-Tachi as an outsider joins their group and unfortunately attracts an unwanted youkai and his traveling companions that happen to include a spirited young human and an annoying little toad. This is their story of reunion, reclamation, and the oddities of family.

Author's Note:

Firstly, this is the first chapter in what will be a RATHER long story. Here's the deal. I'm posting this with an experiment in mind. You tell me if I'm any good at writing and if you like this story I will continue. Otherwise, if I don't get much of a response, then I'm going to assume that I'm a terrible writer and not post the rest of this piece. So I've done my part, the ball is now in YOUR court.

Secondly, I also have a prequel piece to this story in the works that explains a little more into how things got this way. However, if the first above condition is not met, then you'll never see that prequel. This must be a give take relationship between writer and reader. If you respest my work then I'll respect you and reward you with an update.

Those are my terms. :-D Live with them or not, no skin off my bones.

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. If I did…things would be different.

**All's Fair**

by Maria Sophania

**The Beginning**

_200 Years Ago…_

The area smelled of sickness and death. Gracefully, the inu-youkai made her way down the street, pausing to speak to a group of men who held sour looks on their faces. Her voice seemed to ring all around them as the men tried to hide the fear it struck in their hearts.

"I came here in search of Lady Izayoi. Point me in the direction of her abode."

"You are not welcome here, _youkai_. Leave this place. The youkai-lover has at last gotten what she deserved."

The inu-youkai growled in response, her golden eyes narrowing to slits.

"Are you foolish enough to believe that simply because I look human that I cannot destroy the whole lot of you in a single sweep? Or that my nose cannot track the woman I seek? You are truly foolish beings, I ask out of courtesy not necessity." The youkai turned her yellow eyes to a hut on the far side of town. "I can already smell her death. Be thankful I have chosen to let you live…for now."

The men's faces changed from admonition to fear as the inu-youkai made her way down the street, her steps purposeful as the wind moved silver hair about her enchanting face.

Coming to the hut, the inu-youkai's amber gaze landed on a small red form sitting curled up on the steps of the porch, head in his arms. Sniffing the air lightly, she could smell no trace of tears.

"Boy. This is the home of Lady Izayoi?"

The young boy looked up, noticing immediately her youkai stature. Scrambling to his feet and wiping his face, he bowed his head slightly as he nodded in confirmation. Atop his head were two white ears, both wilted to hide within his mess of white hair. The female youkai noted the boy's features to herself before lifting the flap and entering the hut, her gaze moving immediately to a still form that was clearly the source of the sour smell she smelt before.

She growled slightly, startling the women who now hung to the walls of the room, fear evident in their scents. Her smooth voice was spoken no louder than a whisper, yet heard by all present as she kneeled before the body.

"Forgive me, my lord. I could not protect her from this."

The inu-youkai looked over the woman and noted to herself that her master had made a good choice, for this woman was beautiful, even in death. _No wonder my lord cherished her so_.

She remained seated on her knees, her eloquent hakama flaring slightly around her form as she turned her eyes to the door and spoke in a soft voice, testing the boy's hearing.

"Come in here, boy."

Moments later, the boy was standing beside her, his head bowed and his eyes tightly shut. The youkai returned her gaze to the dead woman as she addressed the boy. _The hanyou_.

"Tell me what you smell, hanyou."

The boy hesitated for a moment and kept his eyes closed as he spoke. "I smell mother. And the other four human women in the room. I smell you."

"Be more specific."

"Mother always smells of…cherry blossoms, I guess. Her scent is sweet and warm. Your scent…you smell like trees and…a stream coming from the mountains. Or something like that."

"There are other scents here as well. I want you to tell me what _else_ you smell around your mother."

The hanyou winced, keeping his eyes shut as small ears remained plastered against his platinum hair. "Her scent is messed up. I had known the sickness was there, and I can still smell it, but now, there's something else. Like a suffocating blanket that covers up everything else and makes it hard to breath. I don't like it very much." At his last statement, a single tear slid down his cheek and landed on the floor.

The woman smiled in satisfaction. His response would do, afterall, he was only a pup.

"Very good. That particularly bad smell, I want you to hold on to it. _That_ is what death smells like. Remember it."

The inu-youkai moved forward, gathered the dead woman in her arms and stood. The other four women moved to lightly protest but with a quieting look from the youkai, they chose to remain silent.

"This woman is not valued among you humans. Therefore, we shall bury her. We who respected such a beautiful creature more than her own mortal kind. Come, pup. Bid goodbye to anything you hold dear here, for I think it is advisable that you do not return."

--

They walked in silence as they traveled for almost a day, the female inu-youkai still carrying the dead Izayoi and the hanyou boy still trudging at her feet, head bowed low. Her yellow eyes darted to him quickly before returning to the road.

"Pick out a place to lay her to rest. We shall return her body to the earth and find a priest willing to bless her grave. This is an important task. Make certain it is a location worthy of such a treasured woman, for she was loved by the greatest of inu-youkai."

The hanyou looked up at the woman as they continued on, as though seeing her for the first time. The robes she wore gave away her status, for they were of fine materials, materials the hanyou had touched only a handful of times when his mother allowed him to see her old robes. Gracing the outer haori and hakama were chaotic patterns of reds, blues, greens, and purples on a black base. Her long, silver hair that hung loose against the wind glittered against the sun and contrasted with the dark colors of her clothing. Across her chest, she wore a contraption that looked to function like a breastplate, a single strap crossing from the top of one side of the plate to loop over the opposite shoulder. Her feet were bare, and along her ankles, the hanyou could barely make out faint blue stripes. Those blue stripes, he noted, must be youkai markings that matched the ones he saw on her clawed hands and her cheeks. If she did not smell like a youkai, the hanyou would have sworn she was one of those angels his mother told him about.

Turning his gaze away from the inu-youkai, the hanyou spotted a tree filled of Cherry Blossoms resting on a small hill at the edge of a clearing.

"There. I think mother would like it there."

"Very well."

It took several hours, but the inu-youkai's patience with the hanyou surprised the boy. She allowed him the honor of digging some of the grave, choosing a headstone and the words to go on it, and situating his mother's clothes. The body had been set and the dirt had been redeposited into the hole. They stood there for long moments until the inu-youkai finally spoke.

"Smell the air here. Memorize it. That is the first step to staying alive. Remember where you have been, for that leads you to understand where you are and where you should go."

The boy sniffed at the air, sadness still evident from the tear stains on his cheeks. He would commit this place to memory and would come back to see his mother, to relay to her how his life was going. She would want to know, she had always wanted to know. He would make her proud of him yet. He would become strong, just like those stories of his father.

The inu-youkai bent down and covered one hand over the disturbed earth before summoning her jyaki. In a bright yellow glow, the dirt began to absorb the energy, faint hissing coming to the hanyou's ears where the dirt met undisturbed grass. Within another moment, the youkai raised her hand, a look of satisfaction on her face regarding her task and the strength of her poison. _There. Now her body is completely one with the earth, bones and all. My lord would not have been pleased to know her carcass had been dug up by some lesser youkai and devoured._

Turning, the inu-youkai made to leave, making it all the way down the hill before the hanyou slowly tore his eyes away from the stone and freshly upturned dirt before following the inu-youkai.

"What now?"

"We find a priest to bless it. There are always priests traveling this way between villages. It should not be too far."

And she was right. Within an hour, they ran into an old houshi who had immediately went on his guard at the sight of the inu-youkai.

"Do not be afraid of me, houshi-sama. I mean you no harm. In fact, I am in need of your services." She motioned to the boy, who had once again hung his head in the presence of those stationed above him. The youkai silently made a note to beat him out of that. It would not do to have a son of the Inu no Taisho behave as a servant. "This boy has recently lost his mother. Would you mind blessing her grave on your journey to the next village? It is not too far out of the way and would only take a moment of your time."

The houshi eyed the boy with scrutiny.

"This boy is a _hanyou_. Is it not an abomination for human and youkai to produce such…creatures?"

"Some seem to think so, yes. However, his mother was a great Lady, her castle ruined in a fire not so many years ago by my reckoning. His father was the great Inu no Taisho, my lord and master, ruler of the western lands. Surely even _you_ can say that in the final years of his life he was kind to all creatures, especially humans. The woman he chose to sire this pup with should be honored as royalty. Will you do it or not?"

The houshi seemed to weigh the youkai and the hanyou, his sensei's voice reminding him of the ways of the Buddha. The dead woman was human, and therefore deserved the right to rest in peace, regardless of her history. He had heard of the lady and the tai-youkai of the west. He remembered the words of those saved by him, awe evident in their stories at the idea that a youkai could fight _for_ humans. With that, he set his resolve.

"Yes. I will honor her grave. Point me to the way."

--

They had traveled a little ways more until the inu-youkai abruptly stopped and turned to the hanyou. She pointed a stump and immediately the boy scrambled up it, standing so that they could stare amber eye to amber eye.

"What is your name, boy?"

"My father named me InuYasha."

"InuYasha. A strong name indeed. My lord chose wisely." The inu-youkai weighed him for a moment before speaking. "I have many names. But the one that my own father gave to me was Yuuki."

Without hesitation, InuYasha spoke, his head bowing.

"Thank you, Yuuki-sama, for all you have done to help me and mother. The villagers never have liked me very much. They said that I couldn't have stayed without mother. Can I…" InuYasha paused a moment, raising his head, but keeping his eyes on the youkai's breastplate, admiring the intricate patterns there, "can I stay with you? I promise I won't be any trouble. Mother always said I was a good boy."

Yuuki raised her eyes to the setting sun with a sigh before returning them to the expectant ones of the hanyou before her. He looked so hopeful that her heart nearly broke. Nearly.

"Perhaps some of the time. Sometimes, where I go and what I do, you cannot follow. However, I am uncertain if I should leave you alone. You are so subservient that you will get yourself killed long before you have the chance to be strong enough to fight your own battles." InuYasha had lowered his eyes again, amber locked on those entrancing patterns. "Look at me, boy!"

Immediately his eyes were torn to hers as her fingers gripped his chin, firmly but gently. InuYasha could not help but note the strength and length of her claws compared to his and wondered if one day he could not only be as strong as his father but also as strong as this youkai.

"You will not act like some servant when you are around me. I will not lie to you, InuYasha son of Inu no Taisho. Human and youkai alike despise what you are just because you are both. _That_ shall be your strength. You have the best of both worlds. Learn to use it. First lesson I shall teach you, and remember it well: You are less than _no one_ and better than _everyone_. When you start acting like it, then you are ready to learn how to survive."

_To Be Continued…_


End file.
